Except for the street gangs, things have calmed down in Kinshasa this past month, but are expected to heat up again in December, as the presidential mandate expires on the 19^th, but elections have been postponed till 2018, which the main opposition is not accepting. Hence, according to our friends, all the foreigners are planning to leave the DRC before the 19^th and not return until January. Prices have gone up (water, electricity, phone, internet, food and household) with no more government control, which is making things more and more difficult for the population. We are so thankful for our local donors who continue to give goods faithfully every month, which enables us to supply the kids with their basic food needs. However, the small depot where we have been collecting 200 loaves of bread each week for the past 8 years, refused to give last week. This depot is in a part of town where there is a lot of crime and poverty and it seems the new people handling the bread are resenting the fact that the company would donate to us. We are praying for a solution and that they will accept to resume giving, as the kids have been very dependent on this donated bread.

Monthly food donation from SOKIN

School inspectors come regularly to check on the quality of the education given in both our primary and secondary school and continue to give positive evaluations of both students and teachers, who are very dedicated. The parents are making a real effort to contribute more towards the school fees, despite the increased difficulties most of them face now.

Roll call in the primary section

Class in session

New girls came to enroll in Tailoring Training, so we organized special classes for them to enable them to catch up with the others. Patricia Nzolantima, our first sponsor, will be adding some sewing machines and materials to make it possible for the girls who have enough training to start making school uniforms and earn a living from other sewing projects.

New students catching up

Jacques is one of the beneficiaries of our scholarship program. He studies agronomy at UNIKIN, the main university of Kinshasa. Upon hearing that having the use of a computer would greatly facilitate his studies and minimize his monthly expenses, his sponsor Marie-Therese gave us a gift so he could purchase a laptop.

Jacques, so happy with his new laptop and backpack

Quite a few kids were sick with malaria, typhoid and amoebas this past month (17 in Primary and 14 in Middle School). Even though they have access to clean water at the school, their living conditions at home are such that they have insufficient protection from these diseases. It’s such a blessing though to have the medical center right there to treat them right away as soon as they show signs of sickness.

One of our students ill with malaria

One of the village women receiving malaria treatment in our medical center

Florence checks the glycemic level of some patients

Florence doing lab tests

5         Construction and Maintenance

As soon as the plumber will have recovered from malaria, he will install all the needed pipes to collect rain water inside the two large cisterns which will feed the medical center.

The two large cisterns waiting to be connected to receive rain water

Once a year, the generator needs to be serviced. The solar panels supply us with our basic electrical needs, but the generator comes in handy if we want to use the projector at night or if we need to use some other heavy electrical equipment. Sometime in the new year, we’re planning to add two more solar panels and batteries, to increase the supply of electricity as the project is growing.

Generator maintenance

Our Youth leaders continue to meet monthly to organize the fellowships. This month, they held a memorial for Esther, Olivier’s wife who went to be with the Lord. Patrick could visit from Bas Congo to attend. He read J.R. Miller’s article “Jesus is our Comfort in Times of Grief”and everyone shared how Esther had impacted their lives. A big thank you to those who wrote Olivier to show your support, which greatly comforted him.   

Monthly fellowship

Olivier (middle) with two of his Bible students from UNIKIN.

“As we put our hand in His, following wherever He shows us, giving whatever He asks of us, and trusting Him to always be our refuge and strength, He won’t fail. It might look like we’re stepping off the cliff into thin air sometimes, but like with paragliding, Jesus has given us wings of faith to glide on the currents of His will, seeing life in ways we haven’t experienced before. It may sometimes look unnerving to do what He asks, but with Jesus we can look forward to a thrilling experience and trust Him for a safe landing.”—Maria Fontaine

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